When a press release uses the word “emotive,” you know what you’re in for. Those first three letters that have taken on such a life of their own–either making you cry happy tears (because really, isn’t that what emo kids do?) or making you want to run the other way.
I confess to being one of those run-the-other-way types, and the Artsy With a Capital A pictures in the liner notes where the lyrics should be doesn’t do much to change my mind. But The New Transit Direction (whatever the hell that means) isn’t bad. They aren’t anything brilliant, new, and exciting, either, but I’ll take what I can get where emo bands are concerned. They remind me a little of Jimmy Eat World before they got on Prozac (or whatever it is that made them suddenly happy and radio-friendly).
With shouted verses, harmonized choruses and songs about love and heartbreak, with the occasional track that begs for radio airplay, these guys are following a formula that has worked well for several other bands, so we’ll have to wait and see what becomes of them. But after several listens to the complete album, nothing stands out in my mind–nothing bad and nothing great, either.
